


Red

by GoddessOfDestruction



Category: IT (Movies - Muschietti)
Genre: Angst, M/M, Not A Fix-It
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-23
Updated: 2019-09-23
Packaged: 2020-10-27 02:34:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 532
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20752895
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GoddessOfDestruction/pseuds/GoddessOfDestruction
Summary: Richie stays with Eddie as the Neibolt house collapses.





	Red

**Author's Note:**

> Read this please:  
My 14-year-old nephew wanted to watch IT on Netflix. Me, not a particularly horror movie fan said no... until I caved in. So, while the movie is playing I'm busy playing and bouncing my other nephew, a baby, so, what I remember from the movie is just about nothing! I know the basics but, like, characters names and stuff? Forget it.  
My 14-year-old nephew wanted to go to the movies to watch IT 2. Me, not a particularly horror movie fan said no... until I caved in, 'cause, you know, James McAvoy! So, I'm sitting there and... shit! I'm living for it. I'd like you all to know that I'm very soft for gays so that opening scene broke my heart right there, and then... and then Richie and Eddie... God...  
So, this is all to say: I'm sorry if I get characterization or details wrong 'cause I just learned about this, like, two days ago.  
Thank you and enjoy.

The first one to come to terms with what was about to happen next was Bill. All it took was one look at his old friend Richie to know that he would not budge. For years, Bill felt guilty for his brother’s death – he knew how much it hurt to live with that constant reminder of powerlessness lingering in the back of his mind, and he knew that forcing the jokester Richie to live with that feeling would only result in one thing – an ending like Stan’s.

“We’ll miss you, bud,” Bill croaked out, tears welling up in his eyes.

Richie looked up through his broken, blood-smeared glasses, and greatly appreciated knowing that Bill would not try to dissuade him. 

Mike casted a look at Richie and felt deep within that leaving him behind was the right thing to do. They were Losers, they had nothing else to lose – and Richie had nothing else to go back to. Returning to Derry and getting all the memories back reminded him – reminded them all – of what was important. And what was important to Richie now laid there, dead.

“I’m so sorry, Chee, ‘bout – everything.”

Richie offered a sad smile and simply hunched his shoulders up in a silent ‘_it’s okay_’. He, the infamous loud Trashmouth, couldn’t find the words to speak.

The moment it dawned upon Ben that they had to leave Richie behind was when he was pulling on Bev’s hand, trying to get her to leave the lair. He too nurtured a love in secret, and, thirty odd years later, that feeling was still there, burning like _January embers _– Richie would have mocked him so much. If Bev was lying on that dirty ground, he wouldn’t leave either.

“Now it’s really the end of it,” Ben said, recalling what he had said to the group years ago. “Pun intended ‘cause – you know…” he blew out a breath of air; not quite a laugh, but close.

Richie actually smiled through tears. It looked like he wanted to say something back, but nothing came out.

And then there was Bev, who had to be dragged away by Ben, Bill and Mike. She had seen this happening, she _knew_ this was going to happen, and yet she couldn’t change its course.

“There’s nothing else you can do, Richie,” she cried out as Ben wrapped his arms around her waist and lifted her off her feet to take her away. “I can’t lose – Stan, Eddie – not you too, Richie! Please, come with us!”

Richie wailed like a child once he was alone. He took one last look at Eddie, refusing to say _those_ words aloud – Eddie was not going to hear them, so what was the point?

“It’s dark and cold and full of fucking germs here –” Richie let out a gross sob, “and I wouldn’t let you here alone, Eds.”

Richie held onto Eddie’s body like a koala clinging to a tree, rested his head in the crook of Eddie’s neck, and waited until it all ended.

Nothing scared him anymore, nothing hurt anymore.

And then it all ended – Richie had never felt more at peace as he did when he breathed his last breath.

**Author's Note:**

> The title comes from the song "Red" by The Rose.


End file.
